VR headset developer Valve is "comfortable" with the idea that the technology could turn out to be a complete failure.

Gabe Newell, head of the game studio, made the statement in an interview with news site Polygon.

Valve is co-developer of the Vive VR headset with phone firm HTC.

Mr Newell said, so far, interest in the technology was in line with its expectations and that some VR games had already sold well.

Mr Newell said the advent of VR had much in common with the development of PCs in the 1980s.

In both cases, he said, people bought technology without knowing why and discovered afterwards what they were good for.

For the PC, he said, it was spreadsheets and businesses that drove the initial success. With VR, people were only starting to discover compelling uses as they experimented and took risks with the technology.

Mr Newell said there were now about 1,300 VR-based applications on its Steam gaming service and about 30 of those had made more than $250,000 (Â£200,000) in revenue.